The Shocking Impact of Social Media & College Recruiting

Big time college sports are always looking for ways to get better, and one of the main ways is through strong recruiting. As a D1 athlete myself, I can tell you that the recruiting process can be extremely overwhelming and intense. Top high school athletes are start to commit to colleges when they are as young as freshman in high school, and it makes sense why.

Young teenage athletes are constantly on their phones, all over social media. Coaches recognize this, and are acting upon it. Making team twitter accounts, Instagram accounts and snapchat accounts are just the start. Big time schools are starting to actually hire younger people to run their social media accounts. They understand that a younger age group will know more about what will lure these star teenage athletes into wanting to play for their school. I can’t say they are wrong, it makes perfect sense. Attract the recruits with all the cool locker room pictures and game day snapchat videos, shot by people not too much older than the teens themselves. It way sound extreme, but it is effective. Take the Clemson football team’s twitter feed, for example. It offers “a glimpse to what fans crave — access, behind-the-scene snapshots and insight to things like what uniform the team would wear. What’s it like going to Media Day? Or going to class? Or hanging out in the locker room?” This is what the recruits want to see.

The recruiting process has become more and more competitive over the last couple years, and the impact and correct use of social media is definitely a huge reason why.